Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 - The Criminal Projective (PC) review "From the very beginning, it had to be coming. I knew it, probably everyone who knew of Homestar Runner before the games knew it as well. Dangeresque 3. Those of you who know what that is have probably already skipped the rest of the review to go download the game, because in the annals of Strong Bad history, Dangeresque is legendary. "

From the very beginning, it had to be coming. I knew it, probably everyone who knew of Homestar Runner before the games knew it as well. Dangeresque 3. Those of you who know what that is have probably already skipped the rest of the review to go download the game, because in the annals of Strong Bad history, Dangeresque is legendary.

For the rest of you, Dangeresque is the Homestar Runner world's action movie. It's part detective noir, part James Bond. Basically, Strong Bad dresses up in a pair of big, beige aviator sunglasses, picks up his nunchuck gun, and goes on an adventure through familiar scenery, dressed up with a lot of shoddy props.

While it's technically the same places you've always been...it's not exactly the same places you've been. Strong Badia becomes Strong Borneo, a vicious jungle complete with indigenous potted plants and a river made from a garden hose. A random brick wall in the middle of a field becomes Brainblow City, its skyline dominated by cardboard buildings. There's even a car chase sequence where the car never actually moves. It's what The Bourne Identity would look like if it was made by schoolkids.

The whole game is badly edited, but intentionally so. One time, on a trip to Cairo, I witnessed the majestic pyramids in the background, sandy rocks spray painted on plywood...and then they fell over. There was an awkward cut, and they were standing up again, as if nothing had ever happened. Except this time there was a guy holding them up to prevent another mishap.

Quite a lot of care was taken to make this adventure seem staged, and poorly so. The characters frequently mutter under their breath about forgetting lines, or lament the decisions of their character, only to be sharply silenced by Strong Bad reminding them that the camera is rolling.

All of this rambling basically means that there's a lot of fresh material here. It's similar in tone to the previous entries in the series, but the fact that it's about fictional characters making a fictional movie makes it somewhat different than just another zany romp. When absurd characters pretend to be even more absurd characters, magic happens.

The puzzles also maintain the general standards of quality they've always followed. If you've never stolen a lock of hair from a vegan by throwing her endangered plant into a shark pool, now's your chance. Why do you need a lock of hair? To make a secret formula to promote accelerated growth in plants. Why do you need a secret formula? Well, you'll have to find that one out for yourself.

Dangeresque was always one of the best things in Homestar Runner. It's somewhat fitting that it was brought out in game form, and it was done justice. This is probably the most clever of the games so far. The writing is top notch, the puzzles are good, and the reshuffling of the set pieces makes the game feel just a little bit new, even if it's episode 4.

Freelance review by Josh Higley (December 26, 2008) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.